D&D (2024) Things You Think Would Improve the Game That We WON'T See

[Micah Sweet]

yes, do not like that either


I have no problem giving the thief a mundane version of ‘pass without trace’ or ‘misty step’, I just do not want that to be a spell

Why not? Aesthetics?

 

[the Jester]

Yeah, none of the official proposed changes would actually improve the game beyond superior 5e versions like Level Up, or alternatively harken back to TSR editions like I prefer, and if it's not going to move in either of those directions I see no reason to buy it. I like your ideas in general though, as always. The metamagic, downleveling, and sorcerer changes sound really interesting. Do you have anything written up?

No, but only because I am waiting to see the final 2024 versions. I am strongly considering making some pretty big wholesale changes to my version of D&D after I see the new PH.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I'd want exactly the opposite: ability scores having limited or no effect on class function so they can be utterly divorced from classes. No caster stats, fighters to be excellent in combat regardless of strength (or dex), rogues with bonuses to all skill use, etc. Allow characters to build Smart Fighters, Wise mages, dexterous barbarians, or charismatic monks without sacrificing core competency in their class.

We started moving that way with prof/day class uses, but 180'd that back to make sure getting a 20 ASAP is all that matters.

As long as stats affect important rolls (like hitting enemies, being hit by enemies, avoiding bad stuff happening to you, and how much damage you do) and it is relatively easy to improve said stats, doing so will always have priority. The easiest way to change this is to remove ASIs, but then the power fantasy of modern D&D would be compromised.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Heh... the funny thing about what you say here is that you suggest that without WotC in the picture "the community" could create endless variations of the rules to suit their individual needs. The irony though being that this can all happen right now even if WotC still runs D&D-- every single one of us can change any of the rules we want regardless of whether WotC controls the game or doesn't.

We don't need WotC to give up control of D&D to make the game our own... we just need to put in the elbow grease ourselves to work out everything we want.

All of that is happening right now. A lot of folks apparently just don't want to look for it or make it up themselves. That's on them frankly.

 

[ART!]

Another thing I'd love to change, in the interest of streamlining things: get rid of proficiency, and get rid of kits, tools, etc. Just make it all Skills, as in "are you skilled at Survival?", "are you skilled with a lyre". You eliminate some terminology and multiple categories of things. Boom.

 

[Blue]

Just thought of another one.

I don't expect to see RAW move away from only rewarding XP for overcoming challenges via killing foes, as opposed to overcoming challenges via any means.

 

[CreamCloud0]

Why not? Aesthetics?

my own resons for why not is that magic requires and manifests in very specific forms(spell slots, levels and components) as well as interacting with certain other mechanics and mechanical systems in certain ways(counterspell, dispell or detect magic), a good chunk of satisfying class feel is having mechanics that work the way that we expect the class fantasy to function, for example even though battlemaster maneuvres have very good thematic feel in what they do the limited battlemaster dice that they rely on means you only get to do anything with them barely a handful of times per rest which runs contrary to expectations of something bourne of trained innate mastery of skill.

 

[Micah Sweet]

my own resons for why not is that magic requires and manifests in very specific forms(spell slots, levels and components) as well as interacting with certain other mechanics and mechanical systems in certain ways, a good chunk of satisfying class feel is having mechanics that work the way that we expect the class fantasy to function, for example even though battlemaster maneuvres have very good thematic feel in what they do the limited battlemaster dice that they rely on means you only get to do anything with them barely a handful of times per rest which runs contrary to expectations of something bourne of trained innate mastery of skill.

Absolutely, I feel the same.

 

[ART!]

my own resons for why not is that magic requires and manifests in very specific forms(spell slots, levels and components) as well as interacting with certain other mechanics and mechanical systems in certain ways(counterspell, dispell or detect magic), a good chunk of satisfying class feel is having mechanics that work the way that we expect the class fantasy to function, for example even though battlemaster maneuvres have very good thematic feel in what they do the limited battlemaster dice that they rely on means you only get to do anything with them barely a handful of times per rest which runs contrary to expectations of something bourne of trained innate mastery of skill.

I like that the UA Weapon Mastery properties for weapons are something you can theoretically use every time you attack.

 

[Meech17]

Removing ability scores. Having 14 mean +2 is unnecessarily confusing.

Changing the attack and damage into one roll. 1d20+2d6+Str - 20 AC or something like that would speed up the game.

We won't see them because backwards compatibility.

I have often wondered if a scale of just -3 to +3 would be the way to do it. Start new characters with all 0's and a -1 and one or two +1's to place where they like. Maybe even offer the ability to trade more, where you can gain an additional +1 by taking another -1. Then give out a few +1's over the course of leveling up.

Matching spell levels to character levels, i.e. you get 3rd level spells when you're 3rd level.

They won't do this because of tradition. I can see it happening somewhere down the line, like for a someday maybe, imaginary 6th edition.

Yeah this is very silly, and something I don't see going anywhere. It makes sense in the magic system that exists. Since some classes share spell lists at different rates you need a point of reference. As other people said, renaming it is the very least they should do.

Oh, one more: moving away from the hardback book format, and especially the core three. It's the most efficient delivery method in terms of cents-per-page, but that's just about all that I can say in favour of it.

This is one that I don't fully support. I get it for a lot of books. Adventures could be paper back. But the core books? What do you suggest instead? Spiral bound would actually be really nice as far as reference material goes, so I support that, but I'd miss the look of the book on my shelf. Perhaps loose pages with binder holes? This way you can re-arrange your book in whatever way works best for you? Seems great at a surface level but I'd worry about durability.

con is now so irrelevant, 90% of characters have CON 14.
you could delete it, give everyone +2 HP per level, move CON saves to STR and most people would not even notice that you now play with 5 instead of 6 abilities.

I don't think it would be horrible to just not give the HP bonus either. I think we could benefit from scaling all the numbers down just a touch.